


To Be A Smokejumper

by ShuTodoroki



Category: Cars (Pixar Movies), Planes (Movies)
Genre: Amnesia, Angst, Backstory, Drabble, Drabble Collection, Electrocution, Firefighters, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Minor Injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,872
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28486707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShuTodoroki/pseuds/ShuTodoroki
Summary: Matt (Drip) comes up with the idea that the Smokejumpers should go by callsigns at Piston Peak, but they all don't get them at the same time. How each Smokejumper got their name, in order from first to last. (Yes, I know I chose their real names to be their voice actor's first name, I'm lazy.)
Kudos: 13





	1. Dynamite

“Hey, guys, we should have really cool call signs that we use when we’re fighting wildfires. Like in those spy movies.” Matt (Drip) suggested while the Smokejumpers were resting in the main hangar after their latest wildfire at Piston Peak.

Regina (Dynamite) rolled her eyes. “Matt, that’s in the movies. Besides, we ain’t spies. What practical use would it serve?”

“Well…maybe they’d stand out more than our real names? We’d recognize them faster?” Corri (Pinecone) suggested.

Regina thought about it, and figured that Corri had a point. “Alright. Any ideas?”

“You mean like how they call each other ‘Bravo’ and ‘Delta’ in spy movies?” Danny (Blackout) inquired.

“THAT’D BE COOL!” Bryan (Avalanche) yelled.

“If we’re gonna do this, Romeo, Mike, Delta, Bravo, and Charlie ain’t gonna work.” Regina stated. It was awkward to use the NATO phonetic alphabet. They’d have to think of something else. 

“I say call Bryan ‘Megaphone,’ because he never has an inside voice!” Matt suggested jokingly, laughing at his own joke.

Bryan glared at Matt. “HEY!” 

“Hey, hey! Break it up, you two.” Regina ordered.

“BUT HE STARTED IT!” Bryan protested. 

“You don’t want to set me off, Bryan.” Regina warned, which promptly got both Matt and Bryan to stop.

“Like a grenade?” Danny inquired.

Regina looked at Danny, an eyebrow raised as she looked confused. “Like a _what?_ ”

“Nah, Danny. That’s not a good call sign.” Matt said.

Corri shook her head. “Um…I don’t think calling Regina ‘Grenade’ sounds good either.”

“What about…dynamite?” Danny suggested. It was a similar concept, but it sounded better to him.

“BECAUSE YOU DON’T WANT TO SET HER OFF! PERFECT!” Bryan blurted out.

“Dynamite sounds…better.” Corri said, as Matt nodded in agreement.

Regina thought about it. Well, it was certainly better than being called a grenade, and she didn’t hate it. Maybe it’d grow on her. She’d try it out. Besides, “Regina” never really captured her fierce nature. Maybe this name would. 

“Alright. I’ll take it.”


	2. Blackout

A few days later, the Smokejumpers were working hard, making fire lines to stop the current fire from spreading, as Blade, Windlifter, and Dipper flew overhead, dropping fire retardant. 

“We need more lumber to make this line. Danny, cut some fallen trees.” Dynamite ordered, using real names since they hadn’t thought of any callsigns for the others besides her.

“Copy that, jefe!” Danny replied, as he started sawing down some tree trunks into usable logs. That is, until Dynamite saw the electrical line running along the tree trunk.

“Wait, stop!” It was too late, as a shower of sparks burst out of the severed electrical line, and the other four Smokejumpers braced for a larger electrical explosion, but it never happened. 

Danny seemed weirdly fine, after being presumably electrocuted by high voltage electricity, since he was still conscious, albeit looking a bit disorientated. “What happened?” He simply asked.

“Don’t move.” Dynamite told Danny sternly, afraid that if he did move he’d exacerbate any injuries he had that they couldn’t see. She was going to radio Blade, when he seemed to have the same idea, and radioed first.

“Dynamite, come in. What’s the situation on the ground? We saw a large electrical explosion.” 

“Power line got cut. We think Danny got electrocuted, but we’re not sure. Gonna need Maru for this one.” She reported to Blade.

“Copy that. We’re almost done with extinguishing the fire. Do you need me to hoist Danny back to base or can he move?” Blade inquired.

“He can move, but I don’t want him to in case there’s anything internal that we don’t know about.”

“Alright. Can you transport him to a clear area for me to hoist? I’ll get Cabbie to pick you all up at the same spot as well.” That way, he would have the most success in firmly grabbing Danny. 

“Will do.” Dynamite said, as she closed the radio link. “Let’s go, right now. One of you, push Danny from behind. Be careful to not touch the exposed wire.” 

“I GOT IT!” Bryan headed over to Danny and did what he was told, while Danny still looked confused. “Why is the electrical line sparking?”

“Because you sawed it in half. You don’t remember?” Matt asked, looking concerned. 

“No…” 

“Danny might have amnesia.” Corri told Dynamite. 

Dynamite nodded. “I know, but all we can do is tell Maru what happened, and then he can assess what to do.”

They arrived at a grassy field, and they could hear Blade hovering overhead. They moved away from Danny, so Blade had space to hoist Danny up into the sky, transporting him to base. Cabbie soon arrived from base, and landed, opening up his tail ramp so the rest of the Smokejumpers could head back to base.

“What happened? I was just told to pick you guys up pronto by Blade.” Cabbie told them, as he took off. 

“Danny got electrocuted when he accidentally sawed down an electrical line.” Dynamite explained.

“…Oh.” Cabbie felt like that was a dumb reaction to what he was just told, but he really didn’t know what else to say. He didn’t expect to hear that Danny had been _electrocuted._

“Yeah. They’re probably bringing him to Maru.” Corri added.

Meanwhile, Maru was trying to deal with the Park Superintendent, Cad Spinner, who apparently thought that it was the firefighters’ fault that his lodge had lost power, since they had told him earlier that there was a wildfire that he should be aware of. 

“No, I don’t know why your lodge lost power! Frankly, I have better things to worry about like mixing up this batch of retardant. Get emergency generators for these things like we do.” 

“Maru, come in.” The forklift heard on his radio from Blade.

“Your lodge restoration project or whatever can wait a week or two!” Maru said before he hung up, responding to Blade. “Yeah?”

“Danny’s been electrocuted. I’m transporting him over. Get your tools ready.”

Maru immediately sprung into action, taking out his repair tools. “Copy that. What is his condition?”

“Stable. He outwardly appears fine, but an interior check might be in order.”

“Understood.” Maru said. Soon after he said that, Blade and Cabbie arrived simultaneously. He quickly headed out to meet the two. He’d need the Smokejumpers’ help once Danny was set down. Blade carefully set Danny down, and retracted his hoist, as the Smokejumpers exited Cabbie. 

“Dynamite, tow hook!” He ordered, wanting to get Danny into his hangar as quickly as possible. Although Danny was conscious and _looked_ fine, he would have to check for himself. 

“Coming.” Dynamite replied. She quickly went to fetch said tow hook, and worked to tow Danny into Maru’s hangar. 

Once Danny was inside, Maru opened up Danny’s access panel, which was behind his head. “Stay still.” He said, as he inspected Danny’s internal components. 

“Hm…no interior damage. Does anything hurt, Danny?”

“No.”

“I don’t think that you were electrocuted, then.” Maru remarked, as he closed Danny’s panel. He looked at the Smokejumpers, who were joined by Blade, Cabbie, and now Windlifter and Lil’ Dipper, after they had finished extinguishing the wildfire. “Is there anything else of concern?” He inquired, trying to see if he was missing something.

“We think he has amnesia.” Dynamite stated, looking concerned. “Do you remember now what happened when you sawed through the electrical line?” 

“No, I only remember you telling me to cut some fallen trees into lumber…” Danny recalled, looking concerned that he couldn’t remember. 

“Hm…” Maru thought maybe the Smokejumper was just stunned from the electrical explosion, but he had to check. “Do you remember my name?”

“Yes, Maru.”

“Do you remember where this place is?” 

“Piston Peak National Park. Specifically, the Air Attack Base.”

“Do you remember Blade hoisting you here?”

Danny tried to remember that part, but he couldn’t. “No…well, I remember being in the air…”

“The amount of current must not have been serious enough to cause internal injuries, but it must’ve damaged the brain enough to cause anterograde amnesia.” Maru thought aloud.

“Antero-what?” Matt asked, confused.

“Short term memory loss. The good news is that it usually improves over time.”

“So Danny’s going to have issues remembering things in the short term?” Cabbie confirmed.

“Unfortunately, he will. It seems like a mild case, though, since Danny remembers being in the air.” 

Suddenly, Cad Spinner’s voice came in through the physical radio on one of Maru’s desks. “Where was the fire you all were fighting? I’m trying to send an electrician over before my guests get angry!” Cad assumed that the fire had damaged electrical lines.

Maru rolled his eyes, sighing. “That electrical line must’ve led to the lodge. Cad’s not happy.”

“Well, tell him that one of the Smokejumpers just got electrocuted, and we have other concerns at the moment.” Blade stated, visibly annoyed.

“I’ll just tell him where it was to get him off of our backs.” Maru said, heading over to the radio to step on the pedal to deal with Cad.

“If there’s anything positive that’s come out of this, I’ve thought of a good callsign for you, Danny.” Dynamite told Danny.

“What is it?” Danny inquired.

“Blackout. In honor of you cutting power to Cad’s lodge.” Dynamite said with a slight smile, now that it was established that Danny was relatively fine.

“Blackout…I like it.” Blackout smiled back. “But you all will have to help me remember it.”

“WE WILL!” Bryan asserted.


	3. Drip

Matt and Blackout were having fun bounding over the hilly terrain in the forest surrounding Piston Peak Air Attack, while Bryan, Corri, and Dynamite followed behind. 

“Hey! If you lose us, you two are gonna get lost in the forest.” Dynamite warned. The duo were probably the most energetic of the group, and they were usually the ones who sometimes caused trouble. 

Matt was nonchalant. “Puh-lease. We’ve been here for how long? We know the forest inside out, right Blackout?” 

“Right!” Blackout agreed. 

“Well, we _do_ also need to be close enough to the base to hear if Patch makes an announcement of a wildfire.” Corri pointed out. 

Well, Corri had a point there. “Alright. Hey, Blackout, you wanna see something cool?”

“Uh…what is it?” 

“This!” Matt took off back towards base, and jumped off of a short ridge, using it like a ramp. “Ripping!” He exclaimed as he was airborne, feeling the exhilaration of the air whipping past his frame. Except it all came to an end when he landed awkwardly; he was angled a little bit too far up, and the rear part of his undercarriage scraped the tarmac, a few sparks flying.

The other four Smokejumpers quickly headed over when they saw what happened. It didn’t look serious, but after what happened to Blackout, they were especially vigilant about injuries. 

“Matt, why?” Dynamite simply asked, sighing. “Anything hurting?”

“Because it looked awesome, probably, and my rear undercarriage…” Matt winced in pain, but it was bearable. “I probably just grazed it.” 

“You sure about that?” Blackout asked with a raised eyebrow, concerned.

“Yeah! Look!” Matt traveled in a small circle, to show that he could move without any issue. “I’m fine. Wait, what are you guys looking at?” 

All four of the other Smokejumpers looked at the drops of black liquid now covering the tarmac in the shape of a circle. Oil. Matt looked down as well, and realized what they were looking at, knowing that he might not be as alright as he thought he was. “Oh no…”

“MARU!” Bryan yelled, since they definitely needed the forklift’s assistance.

“What?” Maru asked, coming over to see what was up. Needless to say, it didn’t take him very long to realize what was up when he saw the drops of oil on the ground coming from Matt. "Let's get him to the hangar. Stat. Can you get there by yourself?" He asked Matt.

Matt nodded. "I think so." He drove towards Maru's hangar onto the hydraulic lift, leaving a trail of oil drops behind him that was quite unsightly. 

Maru worked to lift Matt up so he could inspect his undercarriage, but he had to address the loss of oil first before it got serious. "Someone get me a can of oil from the shed." 

"On it." Dynamite replied, quickly heading over to the nearby shed.

Maru grunted as he used his attached flashlight to see Matt's undercarriage better, and he soon found the culprit of the leaking oil. "You managed to scratch one of your oil lines enough to cause it to leak. Good thing I have a replacement on hand. How'd you manage to do it?" 

"Jumped off of that ridge near the tarmac." Matt explained.

Maru grunted as he reversed from under Matt's undercarriage. "Why did I have an inkling that it had to do with a stunt?" 

Dynamite came back with the can of oil, and set it down on the hangar floor. "Here you go." 

"Good, give it to Matt to replenish his oil." Maru instructed, as he fetched the section of oil line he needed to replace the damaged one with. 

Matt started drinking from the can of oil gratefully, as Maru got to work. In fifteen minutes, he was done, and Matt had a new oil line which would hopefully be able to take a beating. "Well, now that's done, it's time for the clean up. Fire hose is in front. Have fun." Maru said, as he lowered Matt from the hydraulic lift.

Matt rolled off of the lift, happy that he was repaired. "Thanks, Maru." 

"Alright, jumpers, let's get this oil washed away." Dynamite ordered.

The Smokejumpers worked to hook up the fire hose, and Dynamite power washed away the oil while the jumpers held the fire hose up to stop it from dragging. Soon, there was no trace of oil left on the tarmac. 

"Good work, guys!" Corri exclaimed.

"Huh, I thought of a call sign for Matt. Drip!" Blackout remarked.

"Ha! For all of this trouble? I like it." Dynamite said with a smirk.

Drip rolled his eyes. "C'mon, guys, I don't deserve to be known for leaking oil…" 

"TOO LATE, DRIP!" Bryan shouted, laughing.

"Well, I guess it's only fair because Blackout got his nickname from the power outage he caused." Corri mused. 

"True, I guess…" Drip wasn't exactly fond of his new call sign, but majority rules. 

Besides, a precedent had kind of been set that their call signs would be based on past incidents. He knew that Bryan would be next. It was only a matter of time…


	4. Avalanche

Winter had come, which meant that fire season was over. Work, however, was not over, as a snowstorm had come through overnight, and the runway was now covered in snow. The Smokejumpers quickly moved to clear it off to the side, since the runway needed to be clear of snow in case it needed to be used.

Bryan, being a bulldozer, was best suited for the job, so he worked eagerly to clear the snow that was piled the highest, as the other four Smokejumpers worked on the less difficult parts to clear. He pushed the snow into a bank on the cliff the base was built on, and figured that it was a good place to leave the snow to melt, since it was out of the way. 

“I’VE DONE MY PART OF THE SNOW!” He informed Dynamite.

Dynamite grunted as she moved some snow with a snow plow attachment. “Good, go help Blackout and Drip. Some of the snow iced up, and they need you to help break it up a bit.” 

“COPY THAT!” Bryan replied, starting to drive away until he heard a low rumble. At first, he had no idea what it was, until he heard Drip exclaim “Avalanche!” He turned around to look at where he was looking at, and saw his snow bank topple over, carrying snow underneath it along as well.

It fell down the cliff side, downing trees in its path and creating a cloud of powdery snow in its wake. It only lasted several seconds, but it felt like longer as the mass of snow finally came to rest at the bottom of the valley. 

All of the Smokejumpers rushed to the cliff side, as the cloud of powdery snow started to settle. Dozens of trees lay on the ground, uprooted as a result of being in the path of the avalanche.

“Bryan, you triggered an avalanche!” Dynamite admonished, thinking that the avalanche was triggered by the bulldozer’s shouting.

“I WASN’T EVEN CLOSE TO THE SNOW BANK!” Bryan protested, huffing. 

“Stop yelling. You might dislodge more snow.” Blackout warned.

“I really hope no one was in the path of that.” Drip said, looking worried as he stared at the mass of snow below.

“There wouldn’t be.” 

Blade’s voice startled all of the Smokejumpers, as they turned to look at the chief who had snuck up on them from behind. How was the large helicopter so silent? “The area past the Canopy Dome is off limits to tourists. No one should be down there. Besides, no roads pass through that area.”

Corri let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. The only casualties are, well, the trees.”

“Well, not exactly. I’ll go check to see if the deer are alright. If we lost a significant amount of deer, the Park Service needs to know.” 

The Smokejumpers nodded, as Blade took off to inspect the area where the avalanche had destroyed.

“I’M TELLING YOU GUYS, I WAS NOWHERE NEAR THAT SNOW BANK!” Bryan insisted.

“Don’t yell when Blade is down there!” Dynamite said, still under the impression that Bryan had caused the avalanche. The rest of the Smokejumpers were under that impression as well.

Bryan sighed. Well, maybe he was partially responsible because he had piled the snow so high on the edge of the cliff, but he was pretty sure that he was far away enough that his voice wouldn’t have triggered the avalanche.

“The deer seem a bit spooked, but besides that I don’t believe any of the deer were in the path of the snow. It stopped quite rapidly when it reached the valley.” Blade radioed back on the common frequency. 

“That’s a relief.” Blackout remarked. The poor deer tractors go through a lot at Piston Peak: running from wildfires during the summer, running from avalanches during the winter.

“If I may suggest a call sign for Bryan, I’d say Avalanche fits pretty well.” Drip said with a smirk.

“You’re just salty that you got named after your oil incident, aren’t you?” Blackout surmised with a raised eyebrow. 

Well, maybe that was true, but Drip was going to refute it anyway. He shook his head. “Come on! All of our call signs, well, except Dynamite, have to do with past incidents. I think it works!” 

Dynamite seemed more at ease, since the avalanche had no major consequences. “I like it. What about you, Corri?”

“I think it works as well.” Corri remarked.

Everyone looked expectantly at Avalanche, who gave a resigned sigh. Well, it was better than being called a megaphone, like Drip originally suggested some time ago. “FINE.”

“Avalanche it is!” Dynamite decreed.


	5. Pinecone

The Smokejumpers were enjoying a hike through the snow-covered woods surrounding Piston Peak Air Attack, since they were a group that couldn’t stay still for long. Being cooped up next to a space heater was nice and all, but sometimes the great outdoors, with the cold, brisk air, was better. They lived in a national park, for crying out loud! They should make the most out of it!

Drip had fun jumping off of various ledges and landing safely, having perfected his technique ever since his infamous incident. 

Blackout was never too far behind as he followed suit, kind of serving to ensure Drip was safe. He had been given the position by Dynamite ever since the incident, and said when it was okay to go, and when it wasn’t okay to go. Except that he sometimes didn’t remember which one he said, thanks to his short term memory loss.

“Blackout! What’s it lookin’ like?” Drip asked.

“It’s okay to go, dude!” Blackout confirmed.

“Alright! Rip-whoa, whoa, whoa!” Drip exclaimed, as a deer emerged from the forest, and drove towards where he was going to land. A collision seemed imminent.

“HEY! WATCH OUT!” Avalanche warned at the same time, which scared the deer enough that it bolted into the forest on the other side of the path, which allowed Drip to land safely. 

“Alright, Drip, that’s enough of your stunts for the day. You don’t want to have to go back to Maru, right?” Dynamite asked, as she pulled up alongside Avalanche. 

“Nope…” Drip replied, until he remembered what Blackout said. “Hey! You said it was okay to go!”

Blackout looked confused. “I did? Uh…I must’ve not seen the deer. Sorry.” 

“Well, I didn’t see one either. They’re good at hiding in the forest.” Dynamite said.

Avalanche then seemed to realize something, as he looked around worriedly. “HEY, GUYS? WHERE’S CORRI?”

Dynamite, Blackout, and Drip looked around as well, when Avalanche pointed out that Corri was missing. 

“She can’t be far away. She was next to me a minute ago.” Dynamite stated, keeping calm.

Drip looked into both sides of the forest along the trail, and saw nothing. “She’s not in the forest. Maybe she’s behind us?” 

Blackout turned around, and saw Corri some distance away from them, looking at a pinecone that she held in her rake. Apparently, even Avalanche's voice could not break her from her reverie. "There she is!" 

"Hm, this belongs to a foxtail pine…" Corri said to herself, as the rest of the Smokejumpers approached her. She only looked up when she saw Dynamite in her peripheral vision, and she carefully set the pinecone back down in the snow. "Ah! Are we heading back already?"

Dynamite sighed. "Well, we should now, since we almost lost you in the forest." 

Corri laughed nervously, embarrassed that she almost got left behind. "Sorry. I just like studying the cones of the different pines at Piston Peak. I'll try to keep up next time." 

"What's so interesting about this one in particular?" Drip inquired. He thought all cones looked the same, but obviously something was special about this one.

"Well, actually, this cone comes from a foxtail pine, and they're only native to the Sierra Nevada, where we are. They're found nowhere else." Corri explained. 

"Oh…cool!" Drip replied.

Dynamite smiled as she got an idea. "You know what? I think I got a call sign for you, Corri."

Corri was the last to get one, which was good in a way, since she rarely got into trouble. She looked excited when Dynamite told her the news. "Really? What is it?" 

"Pinecone. For your love of pinecones, and because a pinecone almost made us leave you behind in the forest." 

"I LIKE IT!" Avalanche commented.

Drip and Blackout nodded in agreement as well. 

Pinecone smiled. "Pinecone is a perfect call sign for me." 

"Alright! We all got call signs of our own now. Time to head back to base!" Dynamite ordered.

And that is how the Smokejumpers got their names.


End file.
